2014 FIL World Lacrosse Championships begin Thursday

A record 38 nations will compete at the FIL World Lacrosse Championships July 10-July 19 in Denver, CO. This will be the United States’ third time hosting the tournament, which is held every four years. The Americans are the reigning gold medalists and have dominated international competition, capturing a total of nine World Championships.

46 current MLL players will be playing for six of the 38 teams. Team USA and Canada are the two tournament favorites and also feature the most MLL players. The entire 23-man Team USA rosterand 14 members of Team Canada play in the MLL. The Iroquois Nationals are the only other squad with multiple professionals on their roster; they will dress four MLL players.

Germany, Israel and Russia will also feature one active MLL player in Denver.

All eight MLL teams will have players competing at the World Championships.

The 38 nations have been placed into nine divisions: eight groups of four teams and one group of six. The pool of six teams, the Blue Division, is the top group in the tournament and consists of the highest ranked teams; four of these teams from the Blue Division will advance to the Championship Bracket. The other eight divisions have an equal distribution of skill-level, and the winner of each group will advance to the Championship Bracket.

All 38 nations have an opportunity to advance to the gold-medal game, regardless of their group-play division.

Nine countries will be making their World Championships debut in Denver: Belgium, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia, Thailand, Turkey and Uganda.

Tom Schreiber, the Ohio Machine’s All-Star rookie, will be coaching Team Uganda.

A notable absence in Denver will be the Outlaws’ John Grant Jr., who would have been making his fifth consecutive appearance for Team Canada. Grant Jr. suffers from a medical condition that requires prescription therapy and his appeal for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) was denied by the FIL. The MLL currently approves Grant’s use of the necessary and life-saving medication. Grant Jr. will join Team Canada on the sideline as an assistant Coach and will be replaced on the field by Jordan MacIntosh of the Rochester Rattlers.

The games begin on July 10th, with a 2010 gold-medal game rematch between the USA and Canada. ESPN will have expanded coverage of the entire tournament, the complete tournament schedule can be found hereand the television schedule can be found here. Tickets for the Tournament can be purchased here.